I am relatively new to this forum but not exactly new to camping and the outdoors. I was a Boy Scout twenty years ago and I'm looking to build a chuck box like we used to have back in the Scout troop. One side of the chuck box folded down and held our propane camp stoves. I am looking to use the materials I have available to do something similar with a slight improvement and I am hoping to draw on this forum's considerable wealth of knowledge to make it work.

Essentially, I have two of those inexpensive propane camp stoves that you connect up to the little one pound bottles and I'd like to disassemble them and build a four burner cook top similar to this:

The camp stoves I have look like this:

I bought them at Wal-Mart because I was pressed for time and needed a solution. I probably have about as much into both of them as one would a basic model Coleman brand propane camp stove. These little grills work to a point. I think each burner is something like 10,000btu which is plenty to make coffee and fry eggs. The Achilles Heel with these little grills seems to be the regulator attachment that connects the grill to the source of propane. Both of them crapped out rendering each grill useless.

The regulators look something like this:

Is it possible to disassemble both the camp stoves I already have, attach some sort of new regulator that would also connect to a bottle tree on a 25lb propane bottle as shown below and cobble together a new cook top?

I'm a relatively handy guy and I have lots of tools. What I do not possess is a good knowledge of plumbing fitting and what I can thread or solder together - which is why I'm asking for help.

In looking at the stove, it seems to be a pretty simple device:

Two burners

Soldered to this connector which connects to the regulator shown above:

What I would hope to do is bypass the cheapy regulator with something more reliable. Also, I am trying to figure out if these lines would be soft or hard soldered together and what types of fittings I would need to pull this off.

This whole thing may sound like a fool's errand and perhaps it is. From my perspective however, both the camp stoves are junk right now because they have no regulators and I can't use them. If however I could spend a few bucks on a couple fittings and turn lemons into lemonade, I'd consider this worthwhile. Have any of you tried anything like this before and does anyone know if/how this might work?

You do know that you can buy new regulators, right? Dunno the brand(s) you have. I can tell you the Stansport regulators fit the Texsport stoves and visa-versa. I also know that you can cut the fittings and stick another maker's regulator on with a piece of hose and hose clamps.

But this'll be a good thread to follow.

Tony

p.s. We've never needed more that two burners, but every camp is different.

You can find replacement regulators priced right on eBay. On the teardrops I've built I placed the one pound bottle a little distance away just for looks and I used properly sized flexible rubber fuel line and hose clamps. I never had a leak but DID check using the soapy water test at all joints. I don't like the regulator as pictured in your post because it dictates placement of the bottle with it's design.

You do know that you can buy new regulators, right? Dunno the brand(s) you have. I can tell you the Stansport regulators fit the Texsport stoves and visa-versa. I also know that you can cut the fittings and stick another maker's regulator on with a piece of hose and hose clamps.

But this'll be a good thread to follow.

Tony

p.s. We've never needed more that two burners, but every camp is different.

EastTex, you must be like me. I love to sometimes take the hard way just to see what happens. Many times my projects cannot be justified by costs, but I "gotta" do them. There is a great sense of satisfaction when such ventures turn out sucessfull. You can see my madness in my recent posts in the link below. I encourage you to go for it!

IF it were me, I would step up to a "travel trailer" stove like you have in picture (original post) or a "slide in" becasue they are designed to run on low pressure propane, use standard plumbing fittings so you can use any hose length you want, and standard low pressure regulator connected to ANY size propane tank you want..... And all the plumbing parts are usually available locally....

Trying to cobble something together is going to be frustrating becasue camp stoves were never made to be disassembled, most new ones do not come with a replacement parts list as the are considered disposable and it may never work as you envision and be a gas leaking safety night mare.... Plus most of the parts are proprietary and not available with any ease...

Also these types of regulators are "adjustable" high pressure probably in neighborhood of 15 psi which make it difficult to work around.... Best solution is going to keep these regulators and tee a high pressure line directly off large tank to the ses regulators... (aslo regilator connection is called a "1 inch disposable canister" connector)...

Best hoses to connect this together will be a high pressure hose with a CGA 510 also called a POL (Presto-Lite or basterized to "Put On Left) on one end and a male disposable canister connector on other end to match stoves regulator... IF you are forced to run two "stove" regulators you will need a tee fitting also and second hose...

Learned along time ago the trying to cobble something together cost me a lot of time and usually ended up more expensive ($$$) than if I just when out and bought proper item...

I am relatively new to this forum but not exactly new to camping and the outdoors. I was a Boy Scout twenty years ago and I'm looking to build a chuck box like we used to have back in the Scout troop. One side of the chuck box folded down and held our propane camp stoves. I am looking to use the materials I have available to do something similar with a slight improvement and I am hoping to draw on this forum's considerable wealth of knowledge to make it work.

Jason

I built a killer patrol box ! Killer in that it killed my back! I also reloaded it impromptly when it shot out of the truck bed and chased me down the highway at 50 MPH.

I gave the damn thing away and started this...........

The reason I bring it up is that I have been GIVEN two of these.......

Had a buddy clean out an old popup and handed me all the inside goodies ( all he wanted was the frame)

This was in there

I added a very small lp tank and a regulator and some plumbing

and I have a rolling kitchen no heavy lifting just hook up and go.

The only reason I bring this up is there are unloved and unused tiny trailers everywhere. I just walk up and ask if there is a stove or two way fridge or what ever and if the trailer is for sale cheap. After talking a few minutes the guy that gave me the little harvest gold stove gave me harvest right to any thing I wanted absolutely free. He was gonna burn the trailer down. I hooked him up with a buyer a couple days later and he was $125.00 happier.

The brown one was headed to the scrap steel yard and a co-worker asked me first if I wanted it.

So take a moment and look around the back alleys and barn lots and don't be too timid to stroll up and ask bargains are out there.

Thanks for the great feedback and ideas. I've been on the 12-14 hours a day since typing this out and I have had a chance to dig into any of this yet. It sounds like the camp stoves may be a write off and I need to find a soon-to-be - scrapped travel trailer and rob the stove top out of it. That may be a solution I'll go with.

I am relatively new to this forum but not exactly new to camping and the outdoors. I was a Boy Scout twenty years ago and I'm looking to build a chuck box like we used to have back in the Scout troop. One side of the chuck box folded down and held our propane camp stoves. I am looking to use the materials I have available to do something similar with a slight improvement and I am hoping to draw on this forum's considerable wealth of knowledge to make it work.

Jason

I built a killer patrol box ! Killer in that it killed my back! I also reloaded it impromptly when it shot out of the truck bed and chased me down the highway at 50 MPH.

I gave the damn thing away and started this...........

The reason I bring it up is that I have been GIVEN two of these.......

Had a buddy clean out an old popup and handed me all the inside goodies ( all he wanted was the frame)

This was in there

I added a very small lp tank and a regulator and some plumbing

and I have a rolling kitchen no heavy lifting just hook up and go.

The only reason I bring this up is there are unloved and unused tiny trailers everywhere. I just walk up and ask if there is a stove or two way fridge or what ever and if the trailer is for sale cheap. After talking a few minutes the guy that gave me the little harvest gold stove gave me harvest right to any thing I wanted absolutely free. He was gonna burn the trailer down. I hooked him up with a buyer a couple days later and he was $125.00 happier.

The brown one was headed to the scrap steel yard and a co-worker asked me first if I wanted it.

So take a moment and look around the back alleys and barn lots and don't be too timid to stroll up and ask bargains are out there.

I can't get buyers when I have scrapped trailers. I offered a lot of stuff to a guy that's refurbishing old trailers. I'd scrapped most of the windows before he came over. Waited weeks then 1 week after I scrapped he came over. He said many that are buying his trailers only want them for guest houses. So I scrapped the oven and hood. If he doesn't come back for fridge, furnace and water heater they'll be scrap too. I do not have enough room to hang onto the stuff waiting on the right buyer.

Not trying to resurrect an old thread, but just as a follow up to my original query - it turns out Blue Rhino actually sells these regulators and if you can round up the part number from their website, you can call and order more. I now have several and no longer need to try and fab up a new camp cook top.

Just wanted to pass the info on the regulators along. They ARE obtainable.